Blogging Tip of the Day: Vol. 97

Today's Tip (and Blogaholics Anonymous 200th Blog Post, so wherever you are buy yourself a cupcake): The world is all about craftsmanship. You go to buy furniture and you pay for the craftsmanship. You go buy a car, it's the craftsmanship that drives the price up. Of course to have any form of craftsmanship you need to work on your craft, to practice so to speak, and unless you are like me and can write 20 blogs a day, throw away half of them and save half of the rest for a rainy day, you may have to get creative about mastering the craft of blogging. Now that you have read that let's talk about the things you need to master to be an "artisan blogger" or a master of this craft.

1. You have to be able to write. This goes without saying, since most people equate blogging with writing but to be an actual "craftsman" or "artisan" of the blogging arts, or writing in general you need to be able to step outside of your comfort zone. People who write in their comfortable little bubble, and don't take a risk now and then get boring and forgotten about. Offering to guest blog for friends and sticking to their topics, is a great way to hone your craft without driving away your audience. You will not drive away their audience because loyal readers find it charming when a novice takes a stab at something, and then take pride in their accomplishment when they get better at it.

2. You have to be able to package. I hate to be blunt folks, but there are too many crappy looking blogs out there, and people only stick around for a short while until they decide you don't care so why should they? You should take some time everyday to work on the overall appearance of your blog. As long as there is progress towards something that looks better people will understand. What do you do when your blog is all set? Be a nice person and offer to help your friends who don't have time to get their act together. It will help you hone your craft.

3. Be moderately consistent. Again, many people wrestle with this one, but if you disappear for long periods of time, so does your audience. They don't just magically reappear either. Now you need to take the above in reverse. Get some friends and ask them to help out when you just can't do it. A lot of what I have don'e over the last 6 months in particular, has been to build relationships in the blogging world. To help out when I can and to get people to help me out. I teach my guest bloggers to have a swagger when they walk into my blog and post something because you know what? It is a big deal when someone else takes the time to post to YOUR blog, and in return I walk into their blogs and give them my all. I can never say THIS enough, but we are all in this together folks

Happy Blogging!